Rick Calamaro, Charlie Sheen's Assistant During 2011 Freakout, Found Dead in L.A. Apartment

The Superficial

Rick Calamaro, seen here leaving Sheen's house after an LAPD raid last year.

The man who stood by Mulholland Drive resident Charlie Sheen through his notorious, likely drug-fueled freakout in 2010-11 -- and who many have speculated egged him on -- was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment yesterday, surrounded by "a pharmacy full of drugs," reports TMZ. Tragically, TMZ also says "it appears he was dead for several days" before he was found.

Calamaro served as Sheen's best friend and assistant from summer 2010 until November 2011. He was reportedly with the actor at New York's Plaza Hotel when he flipped out on porn star Capri Anderson.

For more on Calamaro, see "Rick Calamaro: A Nightlife Visionary Remembered" on our sister blog West Coast Sound.

Friends on Twitter confirm Calamaro's death, remembering him as...

... the businessman behind "the coolest parties in Hollywood" and a "legendary Hollywood club promoter who made an impact."

#prettyRicky #RIP Rick Calamaro off to that party in the sky.

— kairi scott (@KaiBLKHankMoody) July 2, 2012

RIP Hollywood Club promoter Rick Calamaro. Granville was the best club ever. They should make a movie about it.

— Fleetwood Mackey (@DJMACKEY) July 2, 2012

Craig Harvey at the L.A. County Coroner's Office says the coroner did pick up a dead body yesterday at an apartment in the 400 block of North Stanley Avenue. (Located right below West Hollywood, in a nice residential area near Fairfax and Beverly.)

Calamaro is rumored to have lived on North Stanley. However, Harvey emphasizes that "we have not confirmed his identity."

An officer with the LAPD's Wilshire Division says there's no one currently at the station who responded to such a call yesterday. But when he does a search for Calamaro's name in the system, he says it yields a "confidential report."

TMZ accused Calamaro in January of being a "bad influence" on Sheen, reporting that "most people around Charlie think that one of Charlie's biggest problems is that he's under the influence ... of Rick." More from the story:

Rick -- a fixture in the Hollywood club scene -- used to party with Charlie back in the day, but disappeared for some time, while Charlie was sober. But last summer, Rick came back as Charlie's "assistant" and the actor went downhill from there. Coincidence?

Calamaro brushed off the allegations, telling paparazzi he hoped to see Sheen make a full recovery in rehab.

Today, TMZ's "law enforcement sources" say they found "numerous pain medications and an open bottle of alcohol" near Calamaro's lifeless body.

Sheen himself has yet to comment on his former assistant's death. In recent months, the former Two and a Half Men star appears to have turned his life around to some extent; the pilot episode of his new show, Anger Management, set records last night for being "the most-watched primetime scripted comedy series premiere in cable history."

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]